Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran scored Presidential SpokespersonIgnacio Bunye for practically nudging media practitioners how to do theirjobs, saying that "this was setting the tone for Martial Law-stylecensorship and implicitly, a sycophant press".

In a speech at the 3rd PR Summit in Makati City yesterday, Bunye reportedlyslammed the "bickering, mudslinging and politicking" highlighted in newsreports, saying this hindered economic growth and painted a negative pictureof the country abroad. "Day in and day out, we are bombarded with so muchnegative news about our country and fellow Filipinos. It is as if there is adearth of good news to share. Serious allegations are leveled even withoutbasis.Worse, even if these allegations are obviously the concoctions ofpersons motivated only by self-interest, our chismis-driven cultureunfortunately laps it up as gospel truth " Bunye said.

"It is deplorable that Mr. Bunye, as a former media practitioner, would goto such lengths, to suggest that media practitioners should report more goodnews at a time when even more principled Filipino journalists are beingmurdered with such impunity," he said.

"It seems that the Press Secretary want media to report only the truth, thegood, and the beautiful, no matter how divorced these may be from theprevailing realities in Philippine society," Beltran said.

"Mr. Press Secretary seems to have forgotten that much of his so-called badnews actually comes straight from the horse's mouth. Was it not the Palaceand Bunye himself who held the press conference that sparked the entire'Hello, Garci?' controversy? Was it not Madam Arroyo herself who violatedher now-infamous and much-publicized December 30 promise to not run in the2004 elections?" he added.

"Mr. Presidential Spokesperson, public relations (PR) and journalism arevastly different fields. Journalists are there to report and probe issuesaffecting the peoples' welfare, not to gloss over them and paint a prettypicture even if this would equate to lying. It's really impossible to*not*report about the Subic rape case, about the US-RP war games,against thevarious corruption scams implicating the President, about the politicalkillings of activists, about the record-breaking hunger rates, becausethese are the realities of our times," Beltran said.

"Our journalists are definitely not liars or rumor-mongers, Mr. PalaceSpokesperson. The bombardment of negative news, particularly against theArroyo administration, is really not the issue here. The real problem is thePalace's pathetic inability to resolve the various issues—counts ofcorruption, massive electoral fraud, tolerance of human rights violations,puppetry to the US, backtracking on official statements and promises—thatare of the President's own doing," he said. ###